The space shuttle Endeavour's final journey, a 12-mile crawl through the streets of Los Angeles, wowed crowds of admirers. For Times readers, it was no less stunning to watch a time-lapse video that condensed the shuttle's three-day trek across the city to about 3 minutes. The video really took off on social media, and has been one of the most-viewed stories on latimes.com and most-shared content on Facebook and Twitter this week. And it earned its creator, Times photojournalist Bryan Chan , much applause.

Re "Shuttle crawls obstacle course," Oct. 14 Thank you for your coverage of the space shuttle Endeavour's final journey. The photos were inspiring, and you can see that the shuttle is a bit scarred from its travels but handsome just the same. She deserves the attention after her service to our country. Thanks to Los Angeles for providing a home for this veteran. Christine Chamness Appleton, Wis. I was among the thousands who attended the Endeavour ceremony at the Forum in Inglewood, and was at the corner of Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards to witness this historic mission.

Like a Dodgers fan showing up in the top of the fourth inning, Endeavour arrived noticeably late to Sunday's big party at the California Science Center in Exposition Park, delayed by the notorious unpredictability of using surface streets to get from one side of Los Angeles to the other. In that sense, the retired space shuttle seemed to confirm a familiar stereotype, but in other ways its trip across the city - and our collective excitement in seeing it live - efficiently demolished a series of myths about Los Angeles.

The shuttle Endeavour dodged plenty of space junk zipping around Earth. The question Saturday, though, was would its wing avoid an apartment building on narrow Crenshaw Drive? Could it gingerly pivot around tall pines planted in honor of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.? Would the streets of Inglewood and Los Angeles buckle under the weight of the 170,000-pound orbiter and its massive transport vehicle? After months of meticulous planning, those were among the myriad challenges confronting hundreds of workers who escorted Endeavour on the last leg of its 12-mile journey to the California Science Center, where it will be displayed.

It was built for orbital speeds approaching five miles per second, but space shuttle Endeavour took its own sweet time Sunday as it wheeled triumphantly onto the grounds of its new home, the California Science Center. "Mission 26 - mission accomplished," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced, amid the cheers of thousands of spectators. Before it was retired by NASA, the spacecraft had logged 25 flight missions. However, its final journey was slowed by unexpected maintenance issues and last-minute maneuvers to avoid obstacles like trees and utility poles.

The space shuttle Endeavour arrived in Los Angeles last month with an air of majesty, soaring over ocean and mountains, swooping past the Hollywood sign and Disneyland, and dazzling crowds gazing up from the ground. Endeavour lost a little of that grandeur Friday, towed by four trailers, inching down city streets from Los Angeles International Airport toward its new life as an exhibit at the California Science Center. But it was greeted with fanfare by large crowds who marveled at its sheer size against the city backdrop.

The space shuttle Endeavour drank in fuel on its launchpad, condensation rising off its metal body as gases leaked through vent ports. It seemed to astronaut Andrew Thomas like an animal poised to pounce. "It's almost breathing," he said. "You have a sense that it's a creature that's coming to life. " When it did, the rocket boosters roared and clouds plummeted into the distance. Endeavour was going from zero to 17,500 mph in 8 1/2 minutes. "It is without a doubt the ride of your life," said Thomas, who flew aboard Endeavour twice.

Say what you will. Say stay off the sidewalk. Ora Alcox is going to see the space shuttle. On Friday, the now-earthbound Endeavour will be wheeled by very slowly, a block from Alcox's Inglewood home. She will witness it, she says; try to stop her: "They'll have to drag me, screaming and crying. I'm 70 years old. I have MS and I plan to see this. " At the drive-through window at Randy's Donuts, Alcox was picking up her usual apple fritter. And like a lot of those there for their morning fixes Thursday, she was peeved.

The space shuttle's drive from Los Angeles International Airport to Exposition Park over the next few days is shaping up to be an L.A. commute like no other. While Endeavour will travel at a top speed of only 2 mph, it will be forced to do some maneuvers as nerve-racking as any high-speed pursuit. At five stories tall and 170,000 pounds, the shuttle is so big that any shift in winds or unexpected weather could bring the move to a halt. At several points along the 12-mile route, the spacecraft will be inches away from buildings, even protruding onto driveways and over sidewalks.

Look hard and the ghosts of the nation's 40-year-old space shuttle program can be found hidden in plain sight across Southern California. They inhabit a sprawling, virtually lifeless building in Canoga Park, where an army of Rocketdyne aerospace engineers once forged shuttle engines amid a haze of cigarette smoke and the clatter of mechanical calculators. They can be found in the Mojave Desert, at a secured Air Force base in Palmdale, where the shuttles were assembled in a hangar now being used by Boeing Co. to temporarily store office furniture.